Dollywood 6/22/03

Sunday the 22nd, me and my family went to Dollywood during our trip to the Smokey Mountians and we had a blast.

We arrived at the park as it opened so we could ride TT before the line got long and do as much riding as we could in general. One thing I was particularly confused about was the fact that the admission cost about 40$ a piece. This for a park with one coaster. But seems as though it's getting fixed with the addition of Thunderhead.

The park was SPOTLESS. Not a piece of trash anywhere. No cigarette butts or anything. One thing I didn't like was the fact that they had this MAJORLY CORNY childrens music playing throughout most of the park because of the Kids Fest thing. It was VERY annoying. You can only enjoy "Here we go loop de loop.." so many times.

We didn't ride any of the wet rides besides the Slidewinder. It was a very mild day, not hot at all, and the water was COLD, so the though of getting wet was not appealing. One thing I noticed was ALL of the rides were running. And all 4 times i've been to Dollywood ALL rides have been running. GOOD JOB!

Heres a recap of some of the rides we rode:
Tennesse Tornado: Great ride. The tunnel drop was EXCELLENT, and the Iron Butterfly is great. The themeing is really great also. All those funny posters in the queue line. Definately entertaining.

Slidewinder: Lots of fun. Definately worth the LONG trek up the mountian to get to it. We didn't think we'd get very wet on it. Boy were we wrong. YOu get VERY wet on this ride.

Blazing Fury: A nice way to get out of the sun, and it's pretty fun. It's in need of a MAJOR rehab though, and the water your splashed with at the end is warm and nasty.

Dolly's Mountian Adventure: I definately miss Thunder Road, but this is very fun also. It stars my FAVORITE person ever!...DOLLY! It's very differant, and completely enjoyable. A must ride.

Rocking Roadway: A nice relaxing ride in some VERY cool cars. My only problem with them is that you don't press an accelerator and make them go. They move on their own which takes some of the fun away. But their fun anyway.

Dolly's Demolition Derby: Just a regular Bumper Cars ride. We rode it like 6 times. It was TONS of fun. The ride op was the nicest one I've ever encountered. She talked to us and picked with us. She was great.

That's all we rode. What we did ride we rode multiple times. The lines weren't too long, no more than 30min. at the MOST, and that was on the Rocking Roadway.

Overall it was a GREAT day. I really had alot of fun and can't wait till the new area opens. I give it an A.

I'm glad you had such a good time at Dollywood. It sure is a beautiful park. I disagree with your remark about the admission price being high for only one coaster. Dollywood is not about coasters. It is a "theme park" with a variety of rides, shows, interactive attractions, and some of the most beautiful, well-themed atmospherere of any park. It is about the overall experience of all these things combined that make it a terrific value. The Thunderhead Gap expansion and the Tunderhead coaster are welcome, but it has long been worth the admission even without a multitude of coasters.